H.S. SWIMMING: Aspen Narvarte collects three golds

A sophomore at Delaware Valley, she won three gold medals on the first day of the District 2-4 Class AAA subregional swimming championships Friday at the Wyoming Valley CYC.

Moving up a spot in the 50-yard freestyle from a season ago, Narvarte hit in 24.88 seconds for her lone individual gold. She also swam the anchor leg of the 200 medley relay in 24.70 and posted a lead-off time of 25.45 in the 200 freestyle relay to lead the Lady Warriors to the top of the medal stand.

"Last year I came in second (in the 50) so I really wanted first. I just tried to be confident and know I could win it," Narvarte said. "I looked to both sides and knew I had it. It felt good to win and look up and see that 24."

With Narvarte leading the gold-medal haul, it was a big day for Delaware Valley.

Collin Deans-Brandt captured first in the boys 100 butterfly in 54.18 and also swam the third leg to help Delaware Valley post a winning time of 1:42.36 in the 200 medley relay.

"I'm hopefully going to improve on my time. I'm trying to break the team record. But qualifying for states is another opportunity to race again and get a better time," Deans said. "I was trying to swim my own race and not let the others get to me. I just wanted to swim my own race and get my best time."

Hazleton Area junior Felicia Grego and Wyoming Valley West junior Ed Zawatski won a pair of golds.

Zawatski, who finished fifth in the 50 free at last year's state championships to pick up his first state medal, won a gold in 20.80.

He also was the anchor of the 200 freestyle relay and propel the Spartans to a win in 1:39.08.

Scranton's Erin Kazmier-czak is heading back to the state meet after capturing the 200 freestyle in 2:00.38. Kazmierczak rebounded in the second half of the race to come from behind and take the win.

"I'm so excited. I'm happy to go back to states. I worked so hard and I'm so excited to end the season like this," Kazmierczak said. "I knew it was close going into it. I knew I wanted it. I just had to dig down and strive to hit the wall and just hope for the best."

Wallenpaupack's Kyle Usbeck won the 200 individual medley in 2:02.63. He got out to a fast start in the first 50 yard and closed out the race with a solid run in the final 50 yards.

"I'm feeling good. It's a tiring race. It's a hard one to win. I just wanted to keep going and not stop," Usbeck said.

Contact the writer: sports@timesshamrock.com

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